Inspiring Student Motivation: Too Many Carrots, Too Many Sticks

Ever wish your students were more motivated? If you’re like most of us, you have tried an array of rewards and punishments to motivate kids. There’s only one problem: it doesn’t work. At least it doesn't work well enough. People (yes, even students) aren’t motivated from the outside so rewards and punishments only work to a point. We are internally motivated. That’s why it's essential to engage and inspire students to be motivated to succeed in school (and life.)

If you’re ready to move beyond the reward/punishment model and embrace a whole new way to understand motivation, I encourage you to come back regularly. It’s time to challenge the status quo and create schools and classrooms based on what really motivates behavior.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Too Many Carrots, Too Many Sticks

Please read “Too Many Carrots, Too Many Sticks: Four Fallacies in Federal Policies for Low-Achieving Schools,” by Arthur H. Camins, published today in Education Week.

Here’s a passage from this important article:

“Carrots and sticks may achieve short-term results, but their use frequently has unintended consequences to the detriment of core values and long-term goals. It is long past time that we stop endorsing policies and programs based on fallacies, and instead demonstrate the leadership and integrity to act on what we know makes all of us better.”

I continue to be encouraged that more and more educators are finally realizing that the reward/punishment model has taken us as far as it can. To create the schools we want for our kids (and teachers), we need to engage, inspire, and build schools and classrooms based upon the principles of internal control psychology.